3.2 EMPLOYMENT SITUATION AFTER GRADUATION

3.2.1 Placement in working life after graduation

Nine out of ten have found a placement within three months of their graduation

The Masters of Science in Engineering who have studied Biomedical Engineering have found a placement in working life extremely fast after their graduation (Figure 9). Of the respondents, 85% had acquired a job immediately upon graduation. One person, who had graduated a few years ago, had not as yet found a placement in working life since graduation at the time of response. For eight persons, finding the first job had taken more than six months after their graduation. Six of these eight Masters of Science in Engineering had graduated in the early 1990’s. Indeed, the effects of the economic depression at the beginning of the 1990’s were generally discernible in job placement, since more than 70% of all the respondents who had not immediately found employment had graduated between 1990 and 1995.

Of the respondents who had submitted their thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute, 77% (61 persons) had found a placement immediately after their graduation. Moreover, 12% had found employment within three months after graduation and 6% within six months. For four persons (5%), job placement had taken more than six months.

Figure 9. Placement in working life after graduation (n = 203).

3.2.2 Nature of first employment

The majority’s first employment was a permanent full-time job

The nature of the first employment for the majority of the respondents (95%) was full-time (Table 3). Only 11 persons worked in a part-time job as their first employment. Conversely, the difference between permanent (57%) and fixed-term (43%) employment was not equally clear-cut. The depression years of the 1990’s were clearly manifest in the nature of employment. When in the 1980’s only one third (31%) of the first employment contracts were fixed-term, at the beginning of the 1990’s this type of employment already accounted for nearly two thirds (63%). After 1995, the situation has recovered to the level of the 1980’s. The situation for those who had submitted their Master’s thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute was similar to that of the entire group.

3.2.3 Correspondence between first job and education

Correspondence between work and education improved in recent years

The respondents had succeeded extremely well in acquiring work corresponding with their education in their first job (Figure 10). The majority of the respondents (68%) stated that the tasks of the first job corresponded to a large extent with the education provided by TUT. Only 13 persons (6%) felt that the first job corresponded with the acquired education a little or not at all. The proportions were similar among those who had submitted their Master’s thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute. Of them, 70% (55 persons) estimated that their first job corresponded with their education to a large extent and 25% to some extent. For two persons, the first job corresponded a little with the education provided by TUT, and for two persons it did not correspond with their education at all. The differences between those graduated in the 1980’s and 1990’s were relatively small. However, an increase in the correspondence between the education provided by TUT and the first job could be detected for the last few years. Of the 63 Masters of Science in Engineering who had graduated in the last three years, 75% stated that their first job had corresponded with the education obtained from TUT to a large extent.

Figure 10. Correspondence between the first job and the education obtained from TUT (n = 203).

3.2.4 Significance of Biomedical Engineering for acquiring the first job

Biomedical Engineering was significant for finding the first job for two out of five

The significance of the received Biomedical Engineering education for finding the first job was estimated by 39% to be at least quite significant (Figure 11). Conversely, 42% stated that the Biomedical Engineering education had no significance in acquiring the first job.

Figure 11. Significance of the Biomedical Engineering education for acquiring the first job (n = 203).

The study showed that Biomedical Engineering had played a more significant role in acquiring the first job in the 1980’s when compared to the 1990’s. In the 1980’s two out of three (65%) regarded the received Biomedical Engineering education at least as quite significant in applying for the first job, but in the 1990’s, only one third (33%) estimated so. Naturally, the situation is influenced by the fact that in the 1990’s, more students had selected Biomedical Engineering as a professional subject supporting their major. This change can undoubtedly also be attributed to the significant growth in telecommunications technology and the good employment situation in the field, particularly in the Tampere area. This is clearly perceivable when examining the first and present employers (Sections 3.2.6 and 3.3.6).

The significance of the Biomedical Engineering education for acquiring the first job was considerably emphasized for those respondents who had submitted their Master’s thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute. Of them, 48% (38 persons) regarded their Biomedical Engineering education as very significant and 19% as quite significance for acquiring the first job. It was estimated as somewhat significant by 13%, whereas 20% of the respondents stated that it had had no significance for them in acquiring the first job.

3.2.5 Connection of Biomedical Engineering with the first job

Every other’s first job description related to Biomedical Engineering

Figure 12 presents the relation of the nature of the job description in the first job to Biomedical Engineering. When examining the results, it can be observed that the responses have been divided almost into two halves. Almost one half of the respondents stated that Biomedical Engineering was connected with the job description in their first job at least to some extent, and for a little more than one half, the nature of the job description in their first job was related to Biomedical Engineering either very little or not at all.

The relation of Biomedical Engineering to the job description had decreased in the 1990’s when compared to the previous decade. Of those graduated in the 1980’s, 68% estimated that the first job description was related to Biomedical Engineering at least to some extent, whereas the corresponding proportion in the 1990’s accounted for 40%, which may be partially attributed to the increasing number of students minoring in the subject.

For the respondents who had submitted their Master’s thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute, the job descriptions in the first job were related to Biomedical Engineering clearly more often than for other respondents. Of the respondents who had submitted their Master’s thesis to the Institute, Biomedical Engineering was fully or almost fully related to the job description in the first job for 63% (50 persons), and to some extent for 10%. Of the same group, Biomedical Engineering was regarded as having very little and no relation to the job description in the first job by 5% and 22%, respectively.

Figure 12. Relation of the job description to Biomedical Engineering in the first job (n = 202).

3.2.6 First employer

TUT or a telecommunications company as the first employer for two out of five

Table 4 presents the first jobs by type of employer. More than 75% of the respondents have been employed by Finnish-owned companies or state institutions. Two Masters of Science in Engineering ventured on directly becoming an entrepreneur or self-employed after graduation.

In addition to the type of employer, the respondents were also enquired as to the name and location of the first employer. The employers having employed the largest numbers of respondents after graduation were TUT (25%) and various companies of the Nokia Group (16%) (Table 5). When examining individual companies/institutions, those having employed the largest numbers as the first employers were Ragnar Granit Institute (19 persons), Instrumentarium Corporation Datex-Engström (15 persons), and Nokia Mobile Phones and Nokia Telecommunications (10 persons each). With regard to the latter two companies, the employment effect concentrates on the last four years, when all the 10 persons from Nokia Mobile Phones and seven persons from Nokia Telecommuncations had been employed by these companies. A list of the names of the respondents’ first and current employers can be found in Appendix 1.

Of the respondents who had submitted their Master’s thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute, 24% (19 persons) had acquired their first job from TUT, while the figures for Instrumentarium Corporation, the Nokia Group and the Tampere University Hospital (TUH) were 14%, 8% and 8%, respectively.

The majority of the newly graduated (57%) found their first job in the Tampere area (Table 6). The intake of new graduates by the Helsinki area and by the Turku area accounted for 22% and 10%, respectively. These three cities and their neighbouring municipalities were the locations of the first job for almost 90% of the respondents. Appendix 1 also includes the locations of the first and current employers.